Municipal stage set for legalization
By Timothy Schafer
Cannabis culture is officially in Nelson.
For decades the city and region have played host to the undergroundeconomy buoyed by the black market bud, but now, on the cusp of federal approval for legalization, the city has established guidelines to legal embrace the leaf.
The city has amended the Zoning Bylaw to now permit the sale of recreational cannabis, after many months of deliberation and public survey.
A land use framework that permits a maximum of five cannabis stores byarea and requires separation distances from sensitive areas — places that children and youth frequent, as well as parks and green spaces — has been passed into law by the city, preparing Nelson to accommodate cannabis legalization.
The rationale for the conditions — unchanged since first reading lastmonth — contained in the bylaw were to spread the stores throughout the city and mitigate their impact, according to a city staff report.
“Having a site-specific approach to separation distances and a cap offive stores will address concerns about youth access to cannabis and the negative perceptions of clustering cannabis stores beside each
other, while still ensuring cannabis stores are accessible to adults,” noted the report.
The cap on cannabis is similar to what pertains to retail liquorstores, with two liquor stores in the downtown, one at the mall and one beside Safeway — with the retail outlets spread across the city. Applicants will be required to pay a $3,000 application fee to the city.
The new legislation concerning cannabis are expected to evolve overthe next few years. “The proposed amendments to the Zoning Bylaw are a key step in preparing for cannabis legalization, but more work and potential future amendments may be required,” noted city planner Alex Thumm.
However, the Zoning Amendment Bylaw is required to meet provincial legislative requirements.
Medicinal cannabis on the way out
The zoning and business licensing that was put in place in 2017 formedicinal retail cannabis outlets was a stop-gap measure until the federal and provincial governments developed legislation for cannabis.
With the legalization of recreational cannabis the retail sale ofmedical cannabis will be illegal and will remain available only through online sales, meaning all medical cannabis zoning will be removed from the Zoning Bylaw.
All medical cannabis regulations had been removed prior to adoption ofthe Zoning Amendment Bylaw, with notification sent to the affected businesses.
Approvals in place
The city’s own advisory planning commission (APC) recommended approval of the amendment as well as the consideration that the city review the recreational cannabis regulations 12 months after legalization.
“APC was not in support of the new general regulations regardingdisturbances affecting other properties,” noted a city staff report to council.
— Source: City of Nelson
Cannabis concerns
The majority of people who replied to the city-wide survey supported a 150-metre separation distance between cannabis stores and schools, youth facilities, parks and playgrounds with no separation distances between cannabis stores.
A model for the cannabis map was drawn up through the data from the survey, with two stores allowed downtown, one along Nelson Avenue and Highway 3A, another store in the industrial area and Lakeside Drive, with the fifth allowed in Railtown.
Size of the stores is also regulated in the proposed bylaw, with limits placed on the maximum gross floor area and the maximum building frontage.
The size restrictions — based on work done in other jurisdictions regarding proposed recreational cannabis bylaws — limit the length of an exterior store front on the floor closest to grade to a maximum of 16 m. A cannabis retail store can only have a maximum gross floor area of 500 square metres.
Getting the goods on a licence
A scoring matrix will be used to determine who receives a recreational cannabis business licence in the city and who does not.
Although recreational cannabis applications will get vetted through the province first when cannabis achieves legalization later this year, the municipality holds the real say on how many and who gets to operate.
But with an expectation that there will be more applications than the five openings the city is expected to offer, the city has put a process in place to deal with them.
All eligible recreational cannabis applications for Nelson will be brought to the city and city council for consideration. If the application fails to meet any of the bylaws pertaining to cannabis, it will not come to council.
The matrix criteria fall under four headings: location and community compatibility and impact; security plan; qualifications and experience of the applicant; building façade and interior improvements.
